If you’re flying via Innsbruck or Munich, why not add on a couple of nights to explore either of these historic cities?

This Holiday in a nutshell

self-guided, single-centre walking

leisurely and flexible – but spectacularly beautiful – walking

high-quality, family-run hotel in the Tyrolean Alps

easy to reach and get about (a Stubai Super Card is included)

You could be forgiven for thinking that this holiday – an exploration of Austria’s Stubai Valley – is too good to be true. From the moment you arrive, you know you have found somewhere special. It’s tempting to pinch yourself at the distant sound of clanging cowbells, the faint aroma of wildflower meadows, carried along by a gentle alpine breeze; and the sight of pine-forested slopes backed by an amphitheatre of jagged 3,000-metre peaks.

On the high and broad-ascending surface lie valleys, houses, cottages and cabins, whitewashed, glittering among the fields and hedges.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

It is all true, though – and refreshingly, life-affirmingly real. And as if that weren’t enough, this is also a place where – unique among our collection of mountain walking holidays – you can take things very easy indeed. The very leisurely walking routes, along undemanding, well-waymarked paths, provide the kind of views you might normally only hope to experience on a strenuous alpine hike; and everything else – from the region’s impressive panoramic viewing platforms, and the welcoming Hütten (mountain inns) that appear just when you need them – seems to have been designed to make life as simple, and as enjoyable, as possible.